


Into the Prismere Woods

by BorosPaladin



Series: Nova Alabastra [12]
Category: Kingdoms of Amalur
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-10
Updated: 2017-02-10
Packaged: 2018-09-23 06:48:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9645035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BorosPaladin/pseuds/BorosPaladin
Summary: Winter must kill, lest it be killed. Something must be done about the gnomes chipping away at its roots.





	

High King Cydan longed for peace.

  
A great many did, he supposed to himself, but most could achieve it. For weeks Ragna's House of Vengeance had been playing cat-and-mouse with surveying teams from Adessa, not always explicitly working for Motus Mining, never bothering to ask permission to enter Alabastra. They know they would be denied. 

The prismere, they would always be after the prismere. The prismere that the gnomes sought, the prismere that the dokkalfar bothered to bargain for, the prismere that had destroyed Alabastra's peace. How he longed for the unending silence of natural death, the stillness of the Bonewhite Forest. 

Cydan had achieved at least one goal: He was surrounded by the activity of a court. A meager court filled with mortals, but it was often too little distraction. The Varani woman was one of his favorites, but she despised being land-locked. The Alfar man was no doubt being punished for something, Cydan didn't care what but listened to the man's story anyways. The Dokkalfar had a small family technically living with him, but the children and father spent most of their time in Dolve Ansilla with a dokkalfar regiment. The ljosalfar were coldly distant, staying in Castle Gastyr; Cydan sometimes wondered how the ambassadors would respond to the inevitable Gastyr/Ansilla union. And Myfa spent a considerable amount of time visiting, given how many places she had to visit. The court feature Fae as well, of course, with representatives from the Houses and the clans appearing regularly. 

It was a typical day in court when Ragna burst into the throne room and forced the speaker aside to throw a dagger at Cydan's feet. (He mentally noted that Ragna was lucky to have interrupted the Varani ambassador, as she would respect such a show of force.) Everyone froze, naturally, and studied the dagger. No, not a dagger, Cydan realized - a short sword, made for a child, or someone the size of a child. A short sword made of red crystal. 

"A gnomish force has been attacking our shipments to Gallow's End. I took this from their leader," Ragna announced, turning from her king to the other dokkalfar in the room. "Winter must be free to answer."

The other representatives muttered amongst themselves. The gnomes had always been friends with other nations and peoples, but their encroaching habits did not go unnoticed. 

"The Court of Winter may of course take whatever action it wishes," came a reply meant to sound friendly but poorly hiding its threats. "But the Orbocant would not look kindly on Fae needlessly attacking mortals _again_." 

Ragna strode towards the dokkalfar angrily, her hand moving towards her blade as she spat out, "You - "

"Ragna, enough." came Cydan's voice, cold and sharp. "Calm yourself. We have no need to go and attack mortals." 

She whirled back at him, shocked. 

"Leave me, all of you. Except you," he nodded at Ragna. "We need to speak of your behavior." 

As the diplomats filed out, Ragna paced violently. "Why do we do nothing? We need material to - " 

"You're feeling it, aren't you?"

"I'm - what? What am I feeling?"

Cydan shook his head. "I should have thought more on what being a mortal in the House of Vengeance would be like, especially as drained as it is. 

"What you're feeling is the rage felt by all Winter Fae. Vengeance has always been a focus of it. As with all rage, it constantly strains against the mind holding it in, seeking the slightest excuse to escape. You're becoming a little more Fae than you were before, Ragna Senn; you're bonding yourself to the very land you walk. 

"And now you're stuck with all our impotent rage. The Winter Fae have always been at our best constraining our anger. When we fail to hold it in, we just get struck down. The Godstorm, the Crystal War, again and again when we lash out we are cut down. We cannot attack, no. 

"But this is why I wanted a mortal in charge of the House of Vengeance. The Fae solution is to rebuild the House and continue to hold our anger in. But that solution lead to the Crystal War. I need a mortal solution, something that will prevent the other mortals from attacking us."

Ragna unclenched her fists as she spoke. "A knife in the dark. Our vengeance must be a knife in the dark."

"Are you suggesting we kill the mortals' governments? Novel, if more of a challenge than I think we can handle." 

Her smile's dark malevolence would have terrified any human. "I like that, but no. Small strike teams like the gnomes use can crush enemies without being politically relevant. If a gnomish praetorian dies to our blades, it's an incident, but if they fall off a cliff, it's simply ignored."

Cydan considered this before slowly nodding. "Do it. But don't let anyone chase gnomes to Detyre; they have to die on our side. Go."

Ragna nodded and nearly bounded out of the throne room. Cydan reflected on the murderous rage gradually influencing her, thinking that she needed some peace, too. He walked to the door and instructed the guards to send for a Tender of the House of Sorrows and what gemcrafters the clans could spare. 

The prismere, he realized, had stolen away his peace. It had destroyed the forest and twisted even the Gallows Tree. But he would steal peace from under the prismere's nose, bending the spires into new trees that would never grow, the ultimate insult to Summer. 

The Prismere Forest, he chuckled to himself. What irony.

**Author's Note:**

> I WROTE A NEW THING AFTER SO LONG
> 
> Also this was entirely inspired by Project Copernicus art that can be found online, I recommend looking it up it's beautiful


End file.
